The opacity emissions of fossil fuel fired power plants, cement plants and similar facilities generally are government regulated. For example, in the United States of America, the Federal Government regulates opacity emissions such that the emissions from a plant may not exceed a certain opacity limit amount over a specified period of time without incurring fines. The manner in which infractions are determined typically includes a calculation of the average opacity over a sliding window of time. If the allowable average opacity measurement over the sliding period of time is exceeded, a violation occurs.
Operators of the fossil fired power plants and cement plants manage and operate the combustion and filter systems that affect the amount of emissions from the plant. However, at present, operators are without the appropriate means for making the determination as to when the emissions of the plant are nearing the opacity emission threshold, i.e., operators do not have any indications of when the plant is nearing an opacity violation. If operators had the means to determine when the emissions of the plant are nearing the relevant threshold or predict when a violation is at risk of occurring, the operator could control plant variables, such as plant combustion rates and filtering systems, to avoid the violation. Thus, there is a need for improved methods and systems for determining or predicting when opacity emission violation will occur.